I’m making my first built-in project, and have a couple of questions about the design. Referencing the attached images will make the questions a bit more comprehensible. The purpose of the built-in is to fill a “hole” that’s right next to our fireplace that was ostensibly for a TV (or small entertainment center). It’s just about 50″ x 50″. The cabinet itself will hold DVD’s and general storage in the lower cabinets. The slightly odd element of the design are the drawers for the DVD’s. I’d like to make them as shown, with shelves that slope downwards from front to back at a convenient angle for being able to read the spines of the DVD cases, and to keep them from falling out. My two questions surround this design element.
First, because the DVD storage drawers are sort of like “sideways” normal drawers, if this design is going to work I need drawer slides that can be mounted top-and-bottom, rather than the usual side mount. Does such a thing exist? The storage drawers will be constructed from 1/2″ BB for the carcase, about 10″W x 20″D x 24″H, and an undecided wood for the frame-and-panel fronts — I’m guessing at 20-25lbs total (not including contents). The slides will need to be full-extension. Any suggestions or pointers to mfg’s would be greatly appreciated.
Second, I’m unsure how to design the face frame for the overall cabinet, mostly because I’ve never worked with drawer slides before. Would it make things easier if the face frame was offset by the by height of the stationary element of the slide (option A), or the drawer cavity was flush-aligned with the face frame (option B)? –or something else?
Thanks for any thoughts and suggestions!
-M.
Replies
There are undermount drawer slides which go underneath a drawer instead of on the sides so they don't show. I think they would work fine above and below, assuming the load ratings fall within your needs. I don't know a brand to recommend.
Nice drawing.
My brother and I built an entertainment center years ago with a similar drawer for CD storage. We used the bottom mount drawer slide on the top and bottom of the drawer, and it has worked fine. I believe we bought them from Rockler as a standard item.
Instead of shelves in the drawer, we used sets of 3 dowels that created the same type of sloped CD storage you are planning. This allowed us to add a block of wood to each shelf with two holes drilled for the lower front dowel, and the upper back dowel. The friction of sliding the drilled board on the dowels holds the CDs in place even if the shelf is not full. If I remember correctly, we put a thin plywood panel on the side / back of the drawer to make sure it had more stability than the dowels would offer.
Craig
If you used the standard bottom mount available at Rockler, that's likely to be the Accuride 1029. It's a 3/4 extension slide, with load capacity of 35 lbs (which should be enough). Is the one you used only 3/4 extension? ...did that interfere with access to the back of the drawer?
-M.
I believe it is only a 3/4 extension slide. My brother owns the entertainment center, so I would have to look at it to confirm. I can't remember if we shifted the back in somewhat to limit the space that CDs could be stored, or we might have just counted on using the friction stops to limit the space used to store CDs.
One other option would be to put a relatively strong "back" on the left side of the drawer and mount two full extension slides to this side of the drawer. I assume you are only planning to access the CDs / DVDs from one side anyway.
I hope this helps. Let me know if you need any other information, or have any questions.
Craig
why couldn't you use regular side mount full extension slides?
Just mount 2 or 3 all on the "back" of the drawer...."back" as in when you look at it to pick out your dvd.
drawer slides are normally mounted on the sides of the drawer because - the sides are there and, more importantly, drawers are typically wider than taller. In your case, the "drawers" are taller than wider.....I'm pretty sure you should be able to mount 2 or 3 slides all on one side of the "drawer." Test first to make sure the action of the slides still works well....
It never occured to me to use standard full extension slides and put 2-3 of them on the back of the pullout drawers. Duh. Thanks to both of you who suggested that -- I like the idea a lot.
-M.
Mark
your design looks a lot like a standard pantry pull-out shelving unit. One option with this type of unit is to attach only the top and bottom shelves to the face panel with the intervening drawers individually mounted. That way you minimise the moving weight of the unit.
Ian
because of the design of most full extention ball bearing drawer slides "option B" is your only option. once you get your hands on the drawer slides you'll see how to mount them properly.
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Hi Mark:
I made some pantry "drawers" with access from both the left and right side of the drawer shelves. Accuride actually has a matched set of top & bottom mount slides for this type of pullout shelf. Mine were rated for 100lbs! They might come in a lighter duty rating. I beleive I got mine at Woodcraft.
A drawer full of CDs can be heavier than you think. Mounting just on one side might make the slide action difficult.
Good luck.
Michael
Do you happen to remember the model number of the Accuride slides? I've looked at their current product line and don't see anything like what you're describing -- which sounds ideal.
-M.
Mark,
Are you going to access the drawers from both sides?
If so and the drawers have a solid top what about putting the full extension slides on the top and bottom and raise and lower the slides to clear the face frame.
ASK
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